3. Subquestion 1

Introduction

Sub question 1: What is the history of both streets and when did they become shopping streets?

Hypothesis 1: Both streets became shopping streets almost during the same period.

To answer this sub question we’ll tell the history of both streets in short.

Grote Houtstraat

The Grote Houtstraat was initially only called Houtstraat, not until 1379 ‘Grote’ was added to the name.

Until the second half of the 19th century, the Grote Houtstraat had always been a regular housing street. From 1870 onwards many of the former private houses turned into shop houses, so the ground-level part of the house was broken down and replaced by poles and windows (not really to the satisfaction of Haarlem’s inhabitants). Not until the end of the 19th century it became clear that the Grote Houtstraat was actually gaining importance as a prominent shopping street.














One of the first shops in the Grote Houtstraat was the V&D. Since 1896 V&D had had a shop in the Grote Houtstraat and between the years 1910 and 1921 V&D bought all properties in the Grote Houtstraat, the Verwulft and the Gierstraat (except Van der Pigge of course), where the big building of the V&D is now situated. In exchange for extra space at the Verwulft the V&D got permission to build the first department store of Haarlem. The local council badly wanted the extra space at the Verwulft, for traffic there was increasing and so it could broaden the street. This obviously meant that the Grote Houtstraat was very easy to reach.














Kalverstraat

The name Kalverstraat was first mentioned in a piece from 1393. It’s quite unknown when exactly the Kalverstraat came into existence, for during the Middle Ages streets weren’t officially recorded. Back then the Kalverstraat wasn’t exactly the same as it is nowadays. During the Middle Ages the Kalverstraat was the street that ran from the Dam square (which was back then called Plaetse) until the Spui. Not until approximately 1400 the street got its current length.
It’s not certain when the Kalverstraat actually became a shopping street, but it is certain that it must have been so in 1585, for the profession of most people who lived in the Kalverstraat was shopkeeper. In the year 1742 there were about 236 houses in the Kalverstraat of which 220 were shop houses.



















The first steps towards making the Kalverstraat accessible for pedestrians only was when in 1845 two broad strips on both side of the street were asphalted, for the wheels of vehicles. The middle part of the street remained cobbled, for the drivers of the vehicles were afraid that the horses might slip if the middle part became asphalt as well. Later however, round about 1871, the entire street was asphalted. This meant that most of the vehicles disappeared from the Kalverstraat and that it became a pedestrian precinct.




















Conclusion

The hypothesis was: Both streets became shopping streets almost during the same period. How off we were! Although the streets are probably just as old and their present name was first mentioned at approximately the same time, the Kalverstraat became a shopping street almost three centuries before the Grote Houtstraat did! The Grote Houtstraat became a shopping street during the second half of the 19th century, while the Kalverstraat was so without doubt during the 16th century, but probably even during the 15th.